Beloved

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘my beloved.’ Romans 9:25 (from the Revised Standard Version)

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” Isaiah 49:16 (RSV)

My mind cannot begin to comprehend the wonder that the God of the universe calls me beloved. Me. Ordinary, insignificant me, with all of my faults, all of my failings. In spite of the fact that I yelled at my kids today, in spite of the fact that my house is a mess, that I’m spending time blogging instead of working, that I blew it in a hundred different ways today, he still calls me beloved. Not only that, but I’m engraved on the palms of his hands. He can’t forget me and he’s not going to overlook me.

I’ll admit, I struggle with understanding this. I struggle with believing that it really is true. There’s such a huge gap between God and me, why would he bother with me? Because of love. Because of the longing of a lover’s heart to have the object of his affection love him in return. Make no mistake about it, the love God wants from us in return is not the cold and passionless love of rules and regulations. He wants the fires of our heart to burn with a longing to know him. He wants us to rejoice in knowing him, to join him in the dance of life.